Twine-holder.



J. HILL.

TWINE HOLDER.

APPLICATION FILED MAY l9,.l916.

1,201,046; Patented Oct.10, 1916.

i INVENTOR dwmi/za/z fiJ/J WITNESSES v ATTORNEYS FFWE.

TWINE-HOLDER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 10, 1916.

Application filed May 19, 1916. Serial N 0. 98,598.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, JONATHAN HILL, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Jersey City, in the county of Hudson and State of New Jersey, have invented a new and Improved Twine-I-lolder, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact descrip tion.

This invention relates to store apparatus and has particular reference to take-ups for the free end of wrapping twine.

The primary object of this invention is to improve and practicalize the structure disclosed in Letters Patent of the United States issued to me on the 21st day of May, 187 8, No. 203,913.

More definitely stated, an object is to simplify and cheapen the construction of this device without detracting from its efliciency.

Another object is to facilitate the means for threading the twine through the device preliminary to its use.

With the foregoing and other objects in view the invention consists in the arrangement and combination of parts hereinafter described and claimed and while the invention is not restricted to the exact details of construction disclosed or suggested herein, still for the purpose of illustrating a practical embodiment thereof reference is had to the accompanying drawings, in which like reference characters designate the same parts in the several views, and in which- Figure 1 is a front elevation showing the parts in normal position; Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the casing and associated parts on a larger scale; Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view on the line 33 of Fig. 1 showing the weight and the support therefor at the bottom of the casing; Fig. 4 is a vertical sectional view on a plane at right angles to the plane of Fig. 3, and showing a slight modification; and Fig. 5 is a front elevation of the upper end of the casing indicating the manner of introducing the loop of the twine into the weight hook and through the main bail guides. I

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, I show a tubular casing 10 formed of comparatively light thin sheet metal and rolled so that the rectangular piece or plate thereof will form the casing but leaving a slot 11 from top to bottom of the front thereof. This manner of forming the casing with the front slot, adapts the device to be made of cheap metal in a simple manner. A plug 12, preferably of wood, is fitted into the lower end of the casing to stiffen and support the same and to constitute a rest for the weight W, which rests normally upon the same or a piece of felt or other cushion 13 at the top of the plug. The plug is locked in position by a pair of screw eyes 14 and 15 passing through the opposite sides of the lower end of the casing. The eyes of the screw eyes 1% and 15 are arranged preferably in different planes, one vertical and the other horizontal.

The upper end of the casing is provided with diametrically oppositely arranged bearing holes 16 into which the ends 17 of the,

hanger bail 18 project inwardly. This bail 18 is of peculiar form, being provided on the outside of the casing just below the pivots 17 with downwardly projecting loops 19 forming twine guides. The main portion of the bail merges into the guides 19 in front of the pivot 17 and is spaced therefrom, as shown at 20. The normal position of the bail is shown in Figs. 1 and 2, but in dotted lines in Fig. 2, and in full lines in Fig. 5, the bail is indicated as being swung forwardly and downwardly-so as to expose the open transverse slot 21, the inner ends of which are enlarged, as shown at 22. The bottoms of these enlargements 22 lie below the guides 19, but the ,twine when passing bodily directly rearwardly through the slot 21, as shown in Fig. 5, will be received upon the side arms of the bail and will glide directly into place at the bottoms of the guides 19. These guides are of smooth round metal, and hence protect the twine from direct contact with the sharper edges of the casing.

At the top of the back of the'casing is secured an S-shaped guide member 23 permanently connected to the top of the casing and having an open loop or guide 24 at its lower end. The weight W is adapted to slide freely up and down within the casing above the cushion 13 and is provided with a hook 25 which projects forwardly through the slot 11. This hook serves two direct purposes. First, by projecting through the slot 21, the weight is held from rotation around a vertical axis and thereby the twine is held from twisting or snarling within the casing.

Secondly, the hook constitutes a means whereby the twine when drawn upon by the operator will lift the weight to the position shown in Fig. 4, and consequently whereby the weight will take up theloose end of the twine after it is broken off from the package.

A bail 26 may be connected to the lower end of the casing, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, for connecting a cage or basket 27 for the ball of twine. If, however, the twine is to be drawn from a different source, the bail 26 may be omitted, as indicated in Fig. 4. Having thus described the preferred mechanism, its manner of use may be described as follows: WVith the ball of twine carried in a the cage 27, the free end thereof will be twine will be caught by the hook 525 and held in place by means of the guides 19, and then the free ends of the twine will be passed downwardly through the eye 15 to the place of use or within reach of the operator after the device is suspended from an overhead support by means of the bail 18. When the twine is to be used, the operator grasping the free end thereof will draw downwardly thereon, the first effect of which will be to elevate the weight to the position shown in Fig. 4. Any desired length of twine may then bedrawn through the device, the twine passing from one guide 19 straight across to p the other and out of contact with the sheet metal. The force required to draw the twine, therefore, is comparatively slight, and so long as the twine is held in the hand of the operator while the wrapping takes place the weight will not have much effect, tending to draw the twine out of the operators hand, due to the tension device formed at the guides and eyes. One of the defects of my previous structure was that without the tension provided by the guides and eyes, the weight always had a tendency to gravitate toward the bottom of the casing and draw the twine withit, even while the wrapping operation was taking place. Moreover, with the new improvement, the tension provided by the guide 24: and eye 14 insures that the first pull upon the twine will promptly lift the weight to the upper end of the casing without unwinding any more twine from the ball until after the weight is lifted. When the package is wrapped and the twine broken or cut therefrom, the weight serves to immediately take up the loose end of the twine, the tension devices 25 and 14: serving as above described to prevent further unwinding of the twine from the ball.

I claim: 7 1. The herein described take-up device for twine comprising a tubular casing having a vertical slot along its front, a weight slidable up and down in said casing and having a suspension hook projecting forwardly through said slot and preventing rotation of the weight, means to limit the downward movement of the weight adjacent the lower end of the casing, a suspension bail for the casing connected to the upper end thereof and including a pair of guide members on opposite sides of the casing, openings being provided in the sides of the casing adjacent said guides, and tension means secured to the upper and lower ends of the casing through which the twine is adapted to be passed.

2. The herein described twine take up comprising a straight tubular casing having a slot along its front from top to bottom and having a transverse slot intersecting the vertical slot adjacent the top end of the casing, a hanger bail pivoted in the casing above the transverse slot and having loop shaped guides projecting down opposite the ends of the transverse slot, and a weight slidable up and down in the casing, substantially as set forth.

3. The combination of a straight tubular casing having an open slot along its front from one end to the other and having a transverse slot intersecting the upper end of the vertical slot, a hanger bail connected to the upper end of the casing and having downwardly projecting twine guides, the guiding portions of which are above the bottom of the transverse slot, a twine guide connected to the upper back portion of the easing, a twine guide secured to the bottom of the casing, and a weight slidable from one end to the other of the casing and having a suspension member projecting through the vertical slot aforesaid.

4. The combination of a straight tubular casing having a vertical slot at its front from top to bottom and having a transverse slot intersecting the upper end of the vertical slot, a combined bail and twine guide pivotally connected to the upper end of the casing, the bail portion of the combined device bcing movable forwardly and down-. wardly below the transverse slot to admit the twine directly into the transverse slot and thereby into the twine guides, a weight slidable up and down in the casing and having a suspension hook to engage over the twine and project forwardly through the vertical slot, and tension means for the twine on both sides of the casing, substantially as set forth.

. JONATHAN HILL.

copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. 0. 

